Some Teamsters Are Joining the Right Team
How is it possible that the Teamsters still haven't made an official presidential endorsement? Really, are they going to choose Donald Trump, who conned them into believing he'd help save their pensions? Or Kamala Harris, whose boss, Joe Biden, actually did -- and to the tune of $36 billion? Doesn't sound like a tough decision to me.
I used to be a Teamster. Joining was a requirement of a job as a bus tour guide. As a former badge-wearing member, I was stunned at the sight of Teamster president Sean O'Brien kissing Trump's rear end at the Republican National Convention.
O'Brien said the union didn't automatically endorse Biden because it had to first do its "due diligence." Oh? Was more careful investigation required after Biden signed a law that saved the pensions of 350,0000 retired Teamsters?
O'Brien's exercise in servility was something to behold.
"President Trump had the backbone to open the doors to this Republican convention, and that's unprecedented," O'Brien hollered while Trump beamed. The Teamsters head evidently didn't have the backbone to tell Trump to pound sand for ignoring his promise to save the Teamsters' main pension fund.
"I look at Sean O'Brien as basically Donald Trump's dancing show pony," Rick Smith, a Teamster who does a talk show about organized labor, said on his Working People podcast. "He allowed himself to be used."
A good number of Teamster retirees did have the guts to ignore their alleged leadership and appear at the Democrats' convention to throw their support behind Harris. The Teamster's vice president at large, John Palmer, immediately announced he would challenge O'Brien in the 2026 election for a new union head.
The decision on whom a union endorses shouldn't hinge on whether you like D's or R's. It should be based on the self-interest of members. When Trump promised a bunch of tech billionaires that he'd champion policies to make them richer, they stampeded to his side. If Democrats offered the same thing, the bros would be there. In Trump world, blue-collar workers don't have economic self-interest. The baubles of cultural warfare are enough for them, and they don't cost anything.
We get that MAGA feeds on the anxieties of workers without college degrees, which describes the great majority of Teamsters. We get that cults provide community.
But Trump has a lifetime record of abusing his workers and opposing organized labor. A month after the Republicans' convention, he's on X praising Tesla CEO Elon Musk for firing workers who went on strike. "You're the greatest cutter," Trump told Musk, brimming with admiration. "I look at what you do. You walk in and say, 'You want to quit?' I won't mention the name of the company but they go on strike and you say, 'That's OK. You're all gone.'"
The United Auto Workers assumed this was a threat against Tesla workers who might want to join a union. The UAW had no qualms about endorsing Harris.
What Biden did for the Teamsters' pension fund was not without political risks. Bailouts are not very popular, especially of pensions that had been underfunded. A 2022 Wall Street Journal editorial took issue with it, complaining that Democrats opposed cuts in pension payouts and instead "rushed through a bailout."
As for the Teamsters president, a pat on the head by the MAGA king seemed reason enough to applaud the man who wouldn't lift a finger to help his members when he had the power to do so.
"One thing is clear," O'Brien boomed in praise of the ex-president. "President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid of hearing from new, loud ... voices." Especially when he can ignore them.
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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.
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